Connecting with people is the obvious goal of ministry. There is a doorway to all hearts. Henri Nouwen wrote, “All the people we know or know about are broken.” For the longest time, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know all celebrities were broken. I didn’t know all of my friends were broken. I didn’t know I was broken. When I realized this one fact God threw open the windows of ministry.
Everyone from President to pauper is consciously or unconsciously a huge failure in major areas. Everyone is the same. This truth allowed me to walk into the arena of famous people with a certain mission and trust. I know something about them they may not know anyone else knows. Everyone of them is crummy. I’m not better than they are. We were all formed from the same dirt mold.
There’s one cure, the same cure, for all: the Holy Spirit of Jesus moving into our shells and operating from such rental spaces. God desires to move into our abode and set up shop from that very prime real estate…each of us! Every person I know needs this and, at least secretly, wants this. The problem is they don’t know how to go about finding Him.
Here’s precisely where we come in. Our confidence is not in ourselves but in His Spirit…II Cor. 3:4-5. Our wisdom does not come from within but from above…James 3:13-18. Broken us can arise to minister to the other broken ones because we personally know the Healer. We no longer lead broken lives. We met the Physician. How now shall we lead? Again, Nouwen wrote:
“The compassionate man stands in the midst of his people but does not get caught in the conformist forces of the peer group because through his compassion he is able to avoid the distance of pity as well as the exclusiveness of sympathy. Compassion is born when we discover in the center of our own existence no only that God is God and man is man, but also that our neighbor is really our fellow man.”
1 comment:
Great insights, Terry.
What a relief it is to realize I can admit to being broken... to stop pretending I'm not.
Years ago I was in a men's group with one of the most prominent elders in our area - wealthy, ran several multi-million dollar companies, began several worldwide ministries that still operate today, had a great family life, etc.
During a group session we all began to share things we hoped God would change about us.
He said, "I want to have more confidence."
I nearly fell off the chair. He was broken in this area, but I thought he had conquered all.
Thanks for reminding me. Have a great weekend!
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